Paint roller



March 15, 1960 c. PEDROW 2,928,113

PAINT ROLLER Filed May 31, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l FLg. 4

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Filed May 31, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.5

o c/J o IN V EN TOR. CH4 2/. 5.: Psoeaw HISATTORNEY nited States PAINT ROLLER Charles Pedrow, Jeannette, Pa., assignor of one-half to Andrew Pedrow, Jeannette, Pa.

Application May 31, 1956, Serial No. 588,344

6 Claims. c1. 15-1325) Some paint roller applicators receive the paint on the inside of the roller and it must find its way to the surface of the roller in order to be applied. Other paint .roller applicators have the paint applied directly to the exterior surface of the roller. The latter is the character of paint roller applicator that comprises this invention.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced in paint applicators having the paint ejected onto the surface of the roller. In most instances, the paint is applied directly to the roller along a plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the roller. This manner of applying paint to the surface of the roller receives all of the paint as it is issued from the ejector. If more paint is issued at any one instant a greater amount is applied at one location on the roller and the paint does not have an opportunity to properly spread itself over the roller surface but is actually flicked from the perimeter of the roller and scatters over the surface that has been painted or is not supposed to be painted thereby causing considerable trouble. In most applicators of this character a shield must be provided in an attempt to catch the excess paint, however, such shields are not completely satisfactory and the problem of spotty paint application and and nonuniformity is therefore not solved. 7

The present invention is based upon the discovery that paint may be applied to the surface of the roller and will be more uniformly distributed over this surface if the line of ejection of the paint is not. normal to a plane disposed longitudinally of the axis of the roller but is opposite to' this roller as measured from a line a few degrees from a plane normal to the longitudinal axis of a roller and a line tangent to the roller. The ejector orifices may thus be distributed over this range or lie in a single plane at any degree between this range and still provide a uniform distribution of the paint over the surface ofatentO a large opening in alignment with the opening in pipe 11. This manifold is provided with a series of holes which the roller and thereby include the application of the same.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a self-sustained handle pump unit for supplying the paint sprayed on the roller to avoid use of hose connections or the frequent application of paint to the roller by dipping the same in a pan.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the invention and claims thereto, certain practical embodiments of the invention wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a paint roller comprising this invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the paint ejector in a different position than in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view of one form of ejector.

2,923,113 Patented Mar-.15, 1960 Fig. Sis a view showing another form of ejector.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the roller applicator comprises the cylindrical tube member 1 having a paint applying surface 2 which is usually some form of cloth having a fairly heavy nap or a sheepskin with the wool attached thereto. The tubular member 1 is ordinarily hollow and is provided with end bell members 3 the p erimeters of which tightly fit the tubularmember 1 and are provided with a central opening to receive the shaft 4. which is threaded at its end and projects through the bell 3 to receive the nut 5. The washer 6 is placed between the nut and the end bell 3 to prevent friction. If the thread stops shortto permit the locking of the nut 5 on'the shaft 4 thena rotary movement of theptubular member 1 will not permit the nut to become accidentally loosened.

The bell member at the other end of the cylinder 1 is ordinarily provided with a shoulder such as indicated at 7 in Fig. 2 to provide a, limit for the insertion of the cylinder 1 on the shaft 4. The right end of the shaft 4 has a bracket 8 extending outwardly and rearwardly around the roller and is attached as indicated at 10 to thetubular supply line on discharge pipe 11. If the shaft and bracket are an integral piece made out of copper and the tube 11 is made out of copper, thesame' may be soldered to hold the roller relative to the supply;

In its simplest form the line 11 is hollow and extends to a T member 12 and is sealed therewith. The lateral openings of the T member 12 receive the manifold, sections 13 and 14 which may be a single pipe that extends through the T section 12 and is'sealed therewith and has open toward the roller 1; such holes may be viewed in Figs. 4 and 5 and the extent of their angular position is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

The oppositeend of the pipe or line 11 is connected to a pump which'is illustrated in this instance as a well known type that may be purchased on the market as an oil can. The pipe 11 extends downwardly into the paint-containing receptacle or reservoir 15, the upper end of which screws into the cap 16. A hand lever 17 is provided with a fulcrum 18 that rides on the pipe 11 when the handle is drawn toward the reservoir 15 thereby lifting the form fitting section 20 of the lever from the cap 16 and raising the pump piston 21. The piston 21 extends into the reservoir and reciprocates a cylinder which has a standing valve to admit the paint into the chamber of the cylinder from whence it is forced through an outlet .valve into the piston on the end of pipe 11. Aspring is placed between the cylinder and cap 16 to provide the return strokeof the cylinder on the piston. This form of a pump is old and well known and since it is not a part of this invention is not disclosed in detail.

It is preferable to dispose the pipe 11 at an angle to the axis of the container 15. This angle is approximately degrees as shown in Fig. 2 and it permits one to support the container and the ejector bar 14 conveniently at different positions relative to the line of contact of the roller 1 with a wall surface. This angle is particularly advantageous.

. As shown in Fig. 2 with the line normal to the sur- 3 the T-section 12. Thus the axis of the holes 22 may vary from the line 24 to the line 23 across the manifold or these holes may be in alignment with each other at any position between and inclusive of the lines 23 and 24.

As the operator depresses the lever 17 as illustrated in Fig. 2 to eject paint through the manifolds 13 and 14 the. paint in almost every instance must travel through the air and has a tendency to fall as it is traveling. It, of course, travels a much greater distance when the axis of the holes 22 are in alignment with the line 23 or close thereto. Even though the line 23 is slightly greater than the tangent the paint following a trajectory will strike the roller before it would have an opportunity to go as far as the surface on which the roller is engaged.

In the diagrammatic illustration of Fig. 3, the manifold 14 is on aline that is 8 degrees from a line normal to the'longitudinal axis of the roller and with the manifold in this position the holes 22 rnay be along the line 25 which is tangent to the roller 1 or that may be on the line 26 which forms the 8 degree angle with the horizontal line that is normal to the longiutdinal axis of the roller. As in the structure of Fig. 2 the holes in the'manifold 14 may be along the line 25 or the line 26 or any position therebetween. When the axes of the holes lie in a single plane or the axes of the holes vary in any suitable form such as illustrated by the holes 27 in the manifold 14 as shown in Fig. 5 the holes 27 follow a sine curve.

It is preferable to employ the holes that approach or are on the tangent line 25 as illustrated in Fig. 3 and it is also preferable to have the holes on or approaching the tangent line 23 of Fig. 2. The tangent line 23 is placed in Fig. 3 14 /2 degrees from the line 28, for the purpose of locating the intersection 29 between the line 26 and line 28 which is normal to the longitudinal axis of the roller.

It is found that the holes may range from l5 of an inch to .090 of an inch and they may have as many as 'thirty holes along the manifold such as illustrated in Fig.

4 at 22 or they may have as many as eight holes with inch spacing. Holes to thousandths of an inch in diameter are believed to be preferable particularly with the spacing of inch between hole centers.

I claim:

1. A roller type applicator for applying paint to a 4 wall surface, that comprises a paint-containing receptacle, a soft faced roller, a paint discharge pipe extending from the receptacle with its axis along a line generally tangent to the roller, a bracket fixed to said pipe and rotatably supporting said roller with its periphery in approximate tangential relation to the axis of said pipe, a manifold communicating with and mounted on said pipe to extend parallel and coextensive with and closely adjacent to said roller, said manifold having orifices distributed along its length to discharge short jets of paint from said manifold to strike. the surface of said roller within an angular 4. The roller applicator of claim '1 characterized in that the axis of said manifold is approximately 6- /2 from said line of tangency as measured from a point made by the intersection of a roller radius with the line of tangency.

5. An applicator as recited in claim 1, wherein the said manifold is in the form ofa pipe and whose orifices are in a row parallel to the axis of the manifold.

6. An applicator as recitedin claim 1, wherein the said manifold is in the form of a pipe and whose orifices are disposed along a sinuous line.

Referenees Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,322,165 Simpson June 15, 1943 2,454,553 Eisner et al Nov. 23, 1948 2,667,867 Petersen Feb. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,092,653 7 France -2 Nov. 24, 1954 

